ArLiSNAP Annual Report 2010

Annual Report 2010

Art Library Students and New ARLIS Professionals (ArLiSNAP)
Submitted by Co-Moderators

The ArLiSNAP special interest group continued to innovate over the last year.  From outreach to new and existing ARLIS/NA members to various initiatives created in response to ArLiSNAP member desires, ArLiSNAP continues to position itself as an indispensable resource for art library students and new professionals.

At the 2010 annual ArLiSNAP meeting, coordinators Bryan Loar and Tracy Bergstrom solicited member feedback via a paper-based survey.  The survey was also posted online using a Google document form.  In 2011, the survey will be given again by Bryan Loar and Rosemary Davis, and there will be an emphasis on timely analysis.

In response to suggestions at the 2010 meeting, ArLiSNAP moved their presence on Facebook from a group to a page.  By doing so, ArLiSNAP automated the redistribution of blog postings to Facebook.  While Facebook’s native RSS feed import within Notes proved challenging, the use of RSS Graffiti solved importing issues and allowed ArLiSNAP coordinators to track statistics.  ArLiSNAP sent a message to the group’s members two weeks before the group’s closure indicating the need to join (i.e. “like”) the new page.  The new page was promoted on ArLiSNAP’s blog and ARLIS-L, and the effort grew the number of members by over 50.

This year’s annual ArLiSNAP meeting will be historic. On Sunday, March 27, ArLiSNAP will hold a joint meeting with student and new professional members of the VRA.  The meeting will be a forum for students and young professionals to talk about the problems, plans, and pleasures of the academic and professional worlds.  The joint meeting will give members of both organizations the opportunity to discuss potential collaborations between art librarians and visual resource curators.  So that the VRA members may solidify their own group, ArLiSNAP will also share best practices.  ArLiSNAP will also query participants to determine what kinds of new services, events, and educational opportunities are most important to emerging and developing professionals.

In 2011, ArLiSNAP initiated the process to transition from a special interest group to a section.  By becoming a section, ArLiSNAP will further solidify its incorporation into the Society and be empowered to provide a greater number of resources for its constituency.  In order to petition the transition in March, ArLiSNAP will solicit at least 30, hand-written signatures from current ARLIS/NA members at the joint VRA + ARLIS/NA conference.  Additionally, as an act of solidarity, ArLiSNAP will offer ARLIS/NA members an unofficial, online petition through Care2’s thepotitionsite.com.  Currently, online petitions are not supported by ARLIS/NA bylaws; however, the Board will be reviewing this policy in the upcoming 2011-2012 term.

ArLiSNAP has again supported the New Voices in the Profession session at VRA + ARLIS/NA’s annual conference. The New Voices panel is a truly collaborative effort this year–it features the Gerd Museham Award winners from 2010 and 2011, a speaker chosen by the Education Subcommittee of the VRA, and a fourth presenter chosen by the ARLIS/NA Professional Development subcommittee and ArLiSNAP.   Rosemary Davis worked with Maggie Portis, Assistant Librarian at the New York School of Interior Design, to review essays submitted by students and young professionals from all over the country.  The chosen speaker, Kathryn Pierce, is an IMLS Preservation Fellow, at the University of Texas at Austin School of Information.  She will present a paper entitled, “You Need More Fingers Than Ten: Collaborating to Document Architectural Practice”.  ArLiSNAP looks forward to participating in the panel selection again next year and highlighting emerging stars in the field.

Touchpoints with new and renewing members continued to play a key role in solidifying ArLiSNAP’s presence within ARLIS/NA.  As a result of notifications sent by TEI to Bryan Loar regarding those members interested in ArLiSNAP, the group was able to significantly raise awareness of ArLiSNAP through our standardized email response.  In all, over 300 responses were sent out, prompting additional dialogue with a number of ARLIS/NA members.

The feasibility of being hosted by TEI, ARLIS/NA’s management company, was further investigated.  Bryan Loar, also ArLiSNAP’s Senior Site Administrator, has been in contact with TEI’s management, and he was told in 2010 that hosting WordPress was not feasible due to TEI’s IIS servers.  However, In February, 2011, one of the senior members of TEI indicated that recent upgrades may allow WordPress.  Bryan will continue to research in March and report to ArLiSNAP members.

ArLiSNAP has again provided resources for first-time conference attendees.  ArLiSNAP’s conference survival guide wiki (http://snapconference.pbworks.com) was updated with new graphics and content related to the joint VRA & ARLIS/NA conference in Minneapolis.  It is hoped that corresponding brochures will be distributed at the conference’s First Time Attendee Orientation as well as through the information desk near registration.

ArLiSNAP also organized the conference pub stop, now in its 6th year.  This year’s location is still to be determined.  Promotional graphics were designed by Bryan Loar, and the event was publicized on ARLISN/NA’s Facebook page, VRA’s Facebook page, and on ArLiSNAP at http://arlisnap.org/2011/02/24/arlisnap-pub-stop-2011.

ArLiSNAP Site Statistics as of Monday, February 28, 2011
Total Unique Members: 107
Average Site Hits per Day 2010: 89
Total Site Hits for the Year 2010: 32,422
Total Average RSS Feed Subscribers from WordPress and Feedburner: 157
Total Email Subscribers from WordPress and Feedburner: 72